Abstract

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF THERMOTOLERANT PROBIOTIC YEAST SUPPLEMENTATION ON BIOCHEMICAL AND IMMUNE PARAMETERS IN BROILERS

M. Sudhakara Reddy, Y. Ramana Reddy*, B. Bhima, Y. Thirupathaiah,A. Rajasekhar Reddy and L. Venkateswar Rao

ABSTRACT

Probiotics use has gained widespread interest since sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in poultry feeds has become undesirable because of the residuals in meat products and development of antibiotic resistant bacteria in humans. 128 commercial day old male broiler chicks were divided into four treatments containing 4 replicates in each treatment, with each replicate comprising of eight chicks (32 in each treatment), in a completely randomized design to study the effect of supplementation of different levels of thermotolerant probiotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae OBV-9 on biochemical and immune parameters of broilers. Standard maize-soybean meal based broiler starter and finisher diets with 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 per cent levels of thermotolerant probiotic yeast were formulated and fed from 0-3 and 4-6 weeks of age, respectively. During the 5th week blood samples were collected for biochemical and immune parameters. Except cholesterol levels in the serum, the other biochemical parameters were not influenced by the supplementation of thermotolerant probiotic yeast compared to those fed without probiotic yeast. Cholesterol level was significantly (P<0.05) lower in broilers supplemented with thermotolerant probiotic yeast at different levels compared to control group but, among the levels no significant (P>0.05) difference was observed. Humoral and cell mediated response measured by using sheep RBC and phytohemagglutinin were significantly (P<0.01) higher in chicks supplemented with thermotolerant probiotic yeast compared to control group. But among the levels the response was not significantly different. Study with broiler chicks revealed that supplementation of thermotolerant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has better immune response with lower cholesterol and abdominal fat in the body.

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, probiotic, immune response.